Bread of Life

“I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” ~ John 6:35

“Give us this day our daily bread.” ~ Matthew 6:11

Jesus is the bread. Will we feast?

The crowd’s bellies were fed, so they followed Jesus to see him do it again or maybe something even more impressive. Yet when they ask him a question, Jesus gets real with them very quickly…

6:27 “Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you for on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.”

48-51 “I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”

63 “The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I’ve spoken to you–they are full of the spirit and life.”

Let’s talk about manna. It fills bellies, yet it perishes. In the same way that manna was needed for survival, we need our fresh manna, a.k.a. the Word, every day.

Don’t mishear me, the Word never returns void or perishes. Dare I say ALL of our problems are answered in the Word. Therefore, we need to eat daily. Skip a meal and you feel it. Skip time with the Father and you feel it. Or do we? Are we so comfortable with malnourishment? Comfortable with our ribs popping out? He has called us to life and life abundantly. Yet we settle for a scrap here and there. We must learn how to feed ourselves. We cannot rely on a pastor or spouse or parents to feed our soul. We must get alone with the Word. We must get alone with the Father. We must experience true intimacy with our Creator. Second hand revelation will not do!

If someone came to your door tomorrow and offered you 1 million dollars to simply not read the word for a year, would you take the deal? What if it was a month? What if it was a week? For a million dollars! At what point do we stop cherishing the Word? Are we so satisfied with our sporadic fast food diet of our daily bread?

I think I can speak for a lot of us and say we are not satisfied. These words prick me just like they might be doing to you. That’s ok. That’s good actually – it means we’re still alive. Not spiritually dead.

We still have time to feast.

Let’s be quick to turn to the Word. Let’s cherish the literary masterpiece we’ve been given. Let’s swim in the Word. Let’s get obsessed with the Word. Let’s truly enjoy the love letter sent to us. Let’s run the race with joy. Let’s finish the fight strong. Let’s make our Dad proud.

Let’s answer with Peter: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the holy one of God” (vs 68).

Holy Spirit, please let your truth come through. Let everything of me be overlooked and forgotten. And let everything of You take root and grow to beautiful fruition. Be glorified by these words. Lord Jesus, soften our hearts. Help us to cherish your Word. Teach us to feast and love it. Let us only be satisfied by you, the living Bread,